thout a nurse crop, in order that the plants may have all the benefit
from moisture and sunlight which it is possible to give them. This is
specially desirable when the fear is present that they may succumb the
first winter to the severity of the weather. As weeds grow rapidly along
with the plants, the mower should be run over the field from one to
three times during the season. If the mowing is done at the proper time,
it will not be necessary to remove what has been cut off by the mower.
It may be allowed to lie as a mulch on the land. But should the growth
of weeds be excessive before the mowing is done, it would then be
necessary to remove them, in order to avoid smothering the plants. The
clipping back of the alfalfa plants is helpful, rather than hurtful.
When not thus clipped back the leaves frequently assume a yellowish tint
on the top of the plants, which gradually extends downward until the
greater portion of the leaves may be thus affected. Such condition
frequently betokens a lack of nitrogen, but it may also be induced by
other causes. When it does appear, the mower should at once be used and
also as often as it appears. As soon as mowed off the plants usually
stool out, sending up fresh shoots more numerously. They thus form a
crown, somewhat like the crown in clover plants. Root growth is also
strengthened, and the plants are thus made much stronger for going into
the winter. Each clipping during the season, of course, cuts down weeds
and prevents them from making seed. If not thus clipped, they would
frequently injure the crop more by shade and crowding than would a nurse
crop. The mulch thus made through clipping back the plants is in many
instances quite helpful to them, because of the check which it gives to
the escape of ground moisture. There is some difference in the view held
as to whether close clipping is preferable, but the balance of authority
is in favor of reasonably close clipping.

Alfalfa is usually sown alone, but in some instances it maybe
advantageous to sow more or less of some other kind or kinds of grass or
clover along with it. When grown for hay it is usually preferable to
sow the seed without admixture. But there may be instances in which
medium red or alsike clover may improve the crop the first year or two
that it is mown for hay. But where red clover grows much more vigorously
than alfalfa the first season, it should not be thus sown in any
considerable quantities, or the clov